


In The Eyes Of A Beholder

by krasnoe_solnishko



Category: Maleficent (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/M, Looks; Diaval is a vain bird; character study;
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:14:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29196669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krasnoe_solnishko/pseuds/krasnoe_solnishko
Summary: Diaval is a rather vain creature. But it's his raven form he is proud of, not the human one. What he looks like to humans, he wonders.
Relationships: Diaval/Maleficent (Disney)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	In The Eyes Of A Beholder

**Author's Note:**

> Jeslieness is my saviour ❤

“Would you consider me handsome? In human terms?"

Aurora raised her head and stared at her oldest friend, standing in the doorway with a pained look on his face. The question was so uncharacteristic of his confident and quite vain nature that she almost smiled. 

“Diaval! Please, come in. What's brought it on?"

He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. Then he sighed. 

"It's all this strange attention I'm getting everywhere here at court. Women, men, they are always trying to engage me in a conversation. And not just about state matters, those I can deal with." He spread his hands wide, utterly confused. "And they keep staring, you know? At first I wrote it off as me not being completely human. To my renowned service to Maleficent and close relationship with you. I mean I can see where the interest comes from. Still a year has passed, the novelty has to have waned", he frowned. 

Aurora couldn't help giggling. 

"Oh, my poor court ladies! They would be terrified to know that it bothers you. They find you a sweetheart! " The whole conversation seemed utterly hilarious to her. 

Diaval twisted his mouth reproachfully. 

"How unkind of you, my fledgling, to laugh on my behalf," he scolded her gently. 

Aurora covered her mouth with both hands. 

"Oh no, Diaval, that was never my intention - to mock you, you must know it!" She rushed to his side and took his hands in hers, looking at him with her large and sincere eyes. "It seems unbelievable how clueless you are since you are rather vain in your raven form!"

"What do you mean to say?" He looked puzzled as much by her outburst as by her words as they were. 

Aurora let out a breath. 

"Yes. I mean - yes to your question. You are stunning. As a human. You truly are." Her expression changed slightly. "My court ladies don't stand a chance."

Diaval turned to the mirror on the opposite wall. He raised his hand to his own cheek and touched it as if something foreign. 

"Stunning," he mouthed and tilted his head a little. "Is it really considered beautiful, this skin, this shape, this pale colour?" He passed his hand on his nose, then down on his chin. He looked dubious and fascinated at the same time. 

"They are," Aurora confirmed, enjoying this private investigation as if he was her own child exploring the world outside his little crib for the first time. "But it's not your looks which make you appeal to them, you know."

"No? Then what?"

Aurora smiled, indulgent. 

"Your kind and loyal nature, of course. Your sweetness and cheekiness in equal parts. The way you speak and hold yourself. The care with which you tend to Godmother's every whim. Your dignity and wit. They are quite smitten with you, my court ladies, and how can they not?"

Diaval shook his head. 

"Now you are definitely laughing at me." But his eyes showed that he was deeply pleased by such high assessment. 

And this time Aurora indeed did laugh. But her fair face wasn't mocking in the least - it was filled with light and merriment. 

"And you are playing coy. Weren't you a pretty bird before?"

He nodded. 

"That I was. Wings of such a deep black colour are hard to find." His eyes shone proudly. "But as a raven, I knew where I stood. Now this body while having its merits and being quite useful at times, is a totally foreign concept to me."

Aurora pondered his words. 

"Do you find me beautiful?" she asked after a while. 

Diaval looked pensive. 

"Your skin looks fresh and is soft to the touch. Your eyes are bright and when they shine at me I feel happy inside. Your face is familiar and most dear to me." He smiled warmly. "I love you, and this love makes you the most desirable sight to me."

Aurora blew him a grateful kiss. 

"What about Maleficent?"

"Do you doubt her love for you?" He looked taken aback. 

Aurora shook her head. 

"No, I mean, do you consider her beautiful?" This time it was more than a passing curiosity from her side. She was dying to know. 

Diaval's eyes widened and he made a step back. He opened his mouth as if to speak only to close it again, unable to formulate a response. Then he tried again. 

"When I saw her for the first time, the day she saved me and I pledged myself to her, I didn't think anything of her. She was power incarnate and she both commanded and needed me. I was drawn to her but it was not her beauty that had drawn me. I wouldn't have known human beauty from deformity."

"But that has changed, has it?"

He lowered his gaze. 

"It has." His voice was no more than a whisper but there was a deep conviction behind every word. "For she is life itself and what can be more beautiful, more alluring, more sweet and painful than life?" He looked shaken to the core, and Aurora immediately felt sorry for her question. 

"But I can't stop wondering..." he paused, almost unwilling to expose his most vulnerable hopes. 

"You can't?" Aurora urged him on, impatient as only youth could be. She bit her lip, afraid that she had spooked him with her eagerness. 

"It was her who gave me this form, you know? These pointy features, this slender body, the timbre of my voice - they all came from deep inside of her, from her imagination, however unconscious it all was. She must have... She must have found this form appealing on some level, didn't she?"

Aurora kept silent, processing this new piece of information. Of course she knew their story, or at least those little bits of it Maleficent had given away. She knew that Maleficent had saved him from certain death and in his gratitude he had sworn his loyalty to her. Otherwise the fairy was tight-lipped. Not a word, not to explain the long history she must have had with the king, nor any indication as to her own feeling on the matter of Aurora's coronation. And with time Aurora got used to not asking questions. She never even wondered how Diaval had come into possession of this particular form. He was always a shape shifter to her, from the earliest days she could remember, a raven made a man and remade thousands times to the will of her Godmother. Maleficent held a power over him which Aurora never pondered about since she never saw her abusing this power in a cruel or especially unjust way.

And Diaval, he almost seemed content to be subject to her needs and whims. As if it gave particular intimacy to their relationship - the intimacy they both evidently craved. But Aurora wasn't ready to go down that path. Ugh. 

"You may be right," she conceded. She would have liked to say more, but who could claim that they knew what happened in her Godmother's mind? Maleficent was unruly in the best possible meaning of this word. 

Still there were things Aurora was absolutely sure of. 

"Whatever she had in mind that day, Diaval, you are the one she holds closest to her heart."

Diaval blinked and let out a soft laugh. 

"I am certainly not the closest, my little fledgling, I would not be as bold as to imply such a foolish thing. But she must have warmed up to me in some ways during all these years. I dare say she deems me a confidante."

Oh gods, that was just intolerable! 

"You know what? I take my words back! She is certainly rather appreciative of your appearance! Or haven't you noticed how she can't stop petting your beautiful feathers whenever you perch on her shoulder?"

"These are truly beautiful feathers." He puffed his chest up rather smugly, unable not to give in to her goading, and Aurora rolled her eyes up. "She never touches me in my human form, though."

That was true. 

"It might seem intrusive to her."

"Intrusive? The mere concept is unknown to my Mistress." The tenderness in his voice softened the unpleasant truth. 

Aurora giggled. In spite of himself Diaval couldn't hold back a tiny smile, too. 

He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek. Aurora instinctively leaned into his touch, eager for every bit of caress he bestowed on her. 

"It's late," he said suddenly. "I've kept you up long enough."

He made as if to go away, but she grabbed his hand with both of hers. 

"Where are you going?"

"To the chambers my generous Queen has assigned to me."

He was clearly mocking her. Their little heart-to-heart talk was over. Whatever else he had on his mind, he would keep it to himself now. 

It wouldn't do. 

"I don't feel like sleeping," Aurora decided. She looked around and her glance landed on the shawl, spread over the back of her armchair. "Air. Some air is what I need. It's so quiet and sweet this late at night. If it's not too much, could you..?"

"I could," he answered firmly, as she had known he would. Her darling Diaval. Her beloved heartbreaker. 

And to think that he hadn't even known! Such sweet naivete! Utterly hilarious. 

Aurora shook her head in delight and quickly grabbed her shawl from the armchair. 

Tomorrow they would be the talk of the court.

Again.


End file.
